


Let Loose and Dance

by jackstanifold



Series: Family Comes First [2]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Dancing, Family Fluff, Light Angst, no beta we die like thunder1408
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:40:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28642356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackstanifold/pseuds/jackstanifold
Summary: sometimes, it's just nice to dance.(alt titled: three times phil danced with his boys, and one time he wished he could.)
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, you nasties :(
Series: Family Comes First [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2096211
Comments: 13
Kudos: 167





	Let Loose and Dance

**Author's Note:**

> uhhhhhh hey sbi fans how y'all feeling

Before he found Wilbur, Phil hadn’t been a huge fan of music. 

He never really bothered making it, on his own, out among the trees and the animals, the rustling of the wind was all he’d needed. So he never really thought about music, or singing, or anything of the sort, until Wilbur showed up. 

But once he did, things changed. It was little at first, Wilbur would hum a tune under his breath, or tap a beat into the table while he thought, but he never really considered it music, and neither did Phil.

Then, Phil dragged him to the village to trade emerald for potatoes, and string for bread, when Wilbur found something. A little piece of wood, with strings stretched from end to end. A guitar, Phil thought vaguely, as he watched his son sling it over his shoulders.

It cost two diamonds and a bag of nether quartz, but the smile on Wilbur’s face was worth it.

The boy was incredible from the start, fingers coaxing out melodies from the strings, dancing along the neck of the instrument like he knew everything about it. Phil watched silently as the eight year old played like he’d always known how.

Then one day, Phil got up, and he started swaying. It wasn’t dancing, not really, but he moved to the rhythm, head nodding a bit. Wilbur laughed, so he kept going, eventually tapping his feet in an approximation of the beat, smiling a bit as the song picked up.

Then Wilbur stood, and began to sway too. Together, the two moved around the room, then, Phil started to hum along, swirling a bit, his robes flying out around him.

He heard Wilbur laugh a bit, then his voice joined in, with words to a song that Phil didn’t know. At some point, the boy put down the guitar, and the two of them just sang the song, although Phil still didn’t know the words, and Wil was laughing more than singing, and then Phil grabbed his hands, and they twirled more.

Phil’s emerald robes fluttered around them, tangling their legs, and Wilbur’s maroon beanie slipped off and he had to kick it out of the way to avoid slipping on it, but they kept going.

The singing eventually stopped, being replaced with just laughter, just joy, as Phil twirled Wilbur around, and around, and around.

That was the first time Phil danced.

He and Will danced sometimes, after that, swirling around to the sound of their own voices. 

After Techno showed up, things felt more serious, and dancing never seemed like the right thing to do. So they didn't.

It wasn’t that Techno didn’t like music, he would even sing along with Wilbur’s songs if he knew the words, his quiet, monotone voice blending with Wilbur’s smooth tones and Phil’s humming voice. 

He wasn’t against music at all, it’s just that it felt different after he appeared, just a little more tense, a little more uptight.

One day, though, Phil was standing in his room, alone, and he closed his eyes and let himself sway. There was no music, just his quiet humming, as he turned and twisted.

A one person waltz in an empty ballroom.

At some point he became aware of Techno lurking in the doorway and he turned. 

He wasn't embarrassed. He didn't stop. He just held out a hand to the boy, and smiled. Techno froze, before creeping forward and taking his hand.

Phil immediately spun him, and laughed as he squeaked a bit in surprise.

Techno was so much more graceful than Wilbur, the way he moved was the same as when he fought, floating around the room. His hair, white as snow, bundled up in a ponytail that whipped around his head as he twisted. He was smiling a bit, Phil noticed in satisfaction.

It wasn’t a waltz, not really, but they still tried their best to replicate it. 

The dance ended when Wilbur shouted for help with feeding the chickens, and Techno went to help him, but he threw one grin back at the older man. A brief ‘thank you’ that meant more to Phil than all the stars in the sky.

He followed them out, after a while, his cheeks sore from smiling, heart lighter than it’d been in a while.

Wilbur saw the change in Techno’s mood and raised an eyebrow at Phil, who just grinned and shook his head.

Tommy brought a new era. 

Suddenly, Techno relaxed more, and Will schemed less. The two were too close in age, and as ten year olds, they’d decided they were independent enough to handle themselves. Not Tommy, though, he was only five, only a baby. It was nice, Phil discovered, having a youngest, someone to pick on and protect. 

He was also the least musical out of all three of them. Whenever Wilbur strummed his guitar, the young boy would groan, slapping his hands over his ears with a huff and scowling at him until he stopped. 

One time, Techno pointed out the irony in his prized possessions being discs, and Tommy threw a fit, yelling about sentience, (although he probably meant sentiment) and how “the fungnition ‘snot as ‘portant as the thing isself”.

One day, though, when Wilbur dragged out his guitar, Phil grabbed Tommy and pulled him to his feet, smiling at the baffled boy mischievously.

Wilbur started playing an upbeat song, and immediately, Phil lifted Tommy in the air by his armpits and spinning him in a circle.

Tommy shrieked, grabbing at Phil’s sleeves and the man laughed, shifting his grip on the boy so he was cradling him against his chest, bouncing him in his arms as he spun slowly, swaying to the tune. The boy squirmed to be let down, head butting Phil’s chin, but he just craned his neck back and kept dancing.

Eventually, Techno started clapping along, and Wilbur started singing, and the whole family was together, moving in the music, one with the melody. Tommy stopped struggling, and just gave up, tucking himself into Phil’s chest, head against his heart.

He fell asleep in the man’s arms before the song was even over, drooling a bit into Phil’s sweater, and Phil chuckled a bit as he tucked the boy into bed, stopping to brush the boy’s dirty blond hair out of his eyes and smiling at him.

Phil sat alone in the house, fingers tapping out a quiet rhythm into the table, humming quietly under his breath. He was tired. He hadn’t slept well in months, and his ever present headache wasn’t helping matters. 

Techno and Dream were down at the bunker, planning for something or other, he wasn’t sure what. Ranboo was in his little hut, taking care of his rabbit and mourning his siblings. He knew the boy would take a while to recover, and he knew he would ask for help if he needed it.

But for now, Phil was alone. 

He stood, moving to the corner where Techno’s old, beat up jukebox stood, and he crouched to tap the play button. He almost didn’t expect anything to happen, but then, the quiet notes of Far began to play. It wasn’t like Wilbur’s songs, lively and full of movement; or the song Tommy used to play on his jukebox, ‘Stal’, which was very obviously only kept around to annoy Schlatt; or the quiet music Phil would hum when he was alone, nostalgic and calming; or Quackity’s silly songs, full of life and joy. 

This wasn’t a song made to be danced to. It wasn’t a song for moving. So he didn’t. He just sat there, leaning forward to rest his forehead on the jukebox and closing his eyes. 

He was tired, and he missed his sons, and he missed dancing, and he missed L’Manburg.


End file.
